Speakers

Dr. Blanca I. Restrepo earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and is currently a Professor of Epidemiology at UTHealth Houston, School of Public Health in Brownsville, Texas. She has conducted pathogenesis studies involving fungi, bacteria, and helminths, and her current research focuses on tuberculosis (TB). Bilingual and bicultural, Dr. Restrepo leads multidisciplinary studies along the Texas–Mexico border to understand the epidemiologic and biological bases for the re-emerging importance of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and aging as risk factors for TB.

Christopher M. Sassetti is a Professor of Microbiology at UMass Chan Medical School. He studies how Mycobacterium tuberculosis survives and causes tuberculosis in humans. His research aims to find new ways to treat and prevent TB through genetics and systems biology.

Christopher Sundling is an associate professor at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet. His research group uses data-driven and conventional hypothesis-based approaches to understand host-pathogen interplay with the aim to identify novel diagnostic and immunotherapeutic targets.

In Dr. Larry Schlesinger’s lab, Dr. Arnett studies the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma, which is critical for M. tuberculosis growth in macrophages. Her work has identified molecules upstream of PPAR gamma activation as well as novel effectors of PPAR gamma which regulate apoptosis during M. tuberculosis infection. Apoptosis is an important defense mechanism that prevents M. tuberculosis growth, and she has found that targeting this pathway significantly reduces M. tuberculosis growth, providing new potential targets for host-directed therapy for M. tuberculosis.

Geanncarlo Lugo-Villarino as a permanent senior researcher (Directeur de Recherche) of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), He utilize his professional and life skills experience in the field of Immunology and host-pathogen interactions to contribute to the development of knowledge, technology and applications, while He continue to mentor younger generations of researchers and promote science among the general public. In this position, He is a key element in coordinating funding applications, writing and editing original research articles and literature reviews, establishing and managing local, national, and international scientific collaborations, and providing assessment on the progress and culmination of research projects.

Hyungjin Eoh have an extensive experience in microbiology and infectious diseases with specific training in bacterial physiology and metabolomics that are essential for the successful completion of the proposed work. His research has been focused on the development and application of a LC-MS based metabolomics (i) to study Mycobacterium tuberculosis adaptive physiology to rapidly changing environments, (ii) to revise the definition of the enzymatic essentialities, and (iii) to define the metabolic impact on M. tuberculosis physiology arising from enzymatic deficiency. Recently, his research has been expanded: I the metabolic network remodeling for bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogenesis, disease specific biosignatures, and immunometabolome of oncogenic transformation, II the unannotated pathways related with metabolic remodeling, III discovery of the new antibiotic candidates, and IV modes-of-action of new inhibitors.

Igor Kramnik, is an Investigator at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University and an Associate Professor at the Pulmonary Center in the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. After obtaining his MD/PhD degrees in Moscow, he trained in mouse genetics, immunology and tuberculosis research at McGill University in Montreal and Albert Einstein School of Medicine in The Bronx. His research has focused on the pathogenesis of pulmonary tuberculosis and mechanisms of compromised lung immunity, and the development of novel host-directed therapies targeting lung damage inflicted by virulent Mtb in susceptible hosts.

Joel S. Freundlich, Ph.D., is a Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience and of Medicine at Rutgers University–New Jersey Medical School. Prior to his return to academic research, he spent eight years in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist. His undergraduate and master’s degree training were in chemical engineering at Cornell University as a McMullen Dean’s Scholar. He received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the tutelage of 2005 Nobel Prize awardee in Chemistry, Richard Schrock. His laboratory at Rutgers University focuses on leveraging computational, chemical, and biological tools in the study of infectious diseases.

Dr. Musser is the Clinical Director for the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center. She has overseen bacterial public health reference testing, surveillance and outbreak investigations in NY for more than 20 years following a CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases postdoctoral fellowship. Her laboratory has developed and validated dozens of laboratory-developed tests including next generation sequencing assays for clinical and public health testing. She currently serves on Association of Public Health Laboratory’s (APHL) Infectious Disease Committee, chairs the APHL TB subcommittee, and she recently served as an American Society of Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer.

Kristine Arnvig is an associate Professor at University College London, UK. She received her scientific training at The University of Copenhagen, Denmark and at the National Institute for Medical Research, UK, where worked as a postdoc and staff scientist until setting up her lab at UCL in 2013. Her research interests embrace all aspects of Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene expression control with a specific focus on RNA biology including transcriptional, post-transcriptional and translational control to better understand host-pathogen interactions.

Dr. Kyle Rohde is an Associate Professor in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. His Ph.D. dissertation work at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences focused on TonB-dependent mechanisms used by Neisseria meningitidis for iron acquisition from host hemoproteins. His focus shifted to Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a postdoc in Dr. David Russell’s lab at Cornell University, where he applied transcriptomic and genetic approaches to elucidate gene regulatory networks involved in M. tuberculosis intracellular survival within macrophages. Since joining UCF in 2012, Dr. Rohde’s research portfolio has broadened to encompass gene regulation in Mtb and M. abscessus, antibacterial drug discovery and target validation in TB and NTM species, mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, and development of deoxyribozyme-based point-of-care diagnostic assays.

G. Marcela Rodriguez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers Health and senior investigator at the Public Health Research Institute, Rutgers University. She received her PhD and MS from the New York University and a BSc from The Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia. Her research centers in the metal biology and the response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to nutritional immunity. Her lab’s mission is to enhance fundamental knowledge about M. tuberculosis biology to identify potential targets for drug and vaccine development.

Martin Rottenberg is a Professor in Infection and Immunity at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet. He obtained his PhD in Immunity to parasitic infections at the National Institute of Parasitology, Buenos Aires, Argentina and was a PostDoc at Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Ethiopia, studying the immune responses to leprosy, and then at the Dept Immunology , Karolinska Institutet. During more than 40 years he have studied the immune protection and immune pathogenesis to different human infectious diseases, including trypanosomiasis, chlamydiosis, listeriosis and tuberculosis, mainly in experimental models but also, in recent years, in patients. He have supervised 12 PhD students that have defended their thesis, 22 Post docs and 33 Master students and have authored more than 130 publications.

Paulo J. G. Bettencout, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (FM-UCP). His work focusses on fundamental microbiology and immunology, how pathogens interact with the immune system, translational vaccine design, and the discovery of novel antigens for vaccine development against diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. Through immunopeptidomics, Dr. Bettencourt has identified multiple antigens, which are currently being evaluated as vaccine candidates against tuberculosis and malaria.
Dr. Bettencourt graduated in Biotechnology from ISHT, Lisbon, Portugal, MSc in Immunology and Immunogenetics at the University of Manchester, UK, PhD in Pharmacy at the University of Lisbon, and completed postdoctoral research in Vaccinology at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, UK, where he worked with Prof. Sir Adrian V. S. Hill and Prof. Helen McShane. At the UCP, Dr. Bettencourt is a co-founder of the FM-UCP, the Director of the Research and Teaching Laboratories, coordinator of the CatólicaMed Research Platform at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CIIS-UCP). He also serves as Biobank Coordinator, and Program Coordinator the Master of Science in Immunology and Vaccinology at the FM-UCP.

Robert Wallis is Chief Science Officer at the Aurum Institute, where for the past decade he has led clinical trials of adjunctive host-directed TB therapies and new antimicrobial regimens. Prior to this, he has held academic and pharma industry positions, including most recently, leading the development of sutezolid for tuberculosis as Therapeutic Area Clinical Lead for Anti-infectives at Pfizer.

Dr. Behar is Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, where he studies immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Dr. Behar and the members of his lab have made important contributions to our understanding of immunity to tuberculosis including T cell priming, acquisition of effector function, and memory responses. By understanding mechanisms of host resistance to tuberculosis, including how T cell responses are coordinated and integrated in vivo, and how bacteria evade immunity, his ultimate goal is to inform vaccine design and testing.

Santiago Ramón García is a senior investigator working at the interface of microbiology, drug discovery and antimicrobial resistance, especially in the context of tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. His association with ARAID/UNIZAR places him in an important Spanish research centre with strong international collaborations in neglected diseases. He leads both basic molecular microbiology and translational/preclinical work (including clinical trial coordination) aimed at novel antimicrobials.

Sébastien Gagneux is Head of the Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and Professor of Infection Biology at the University of Basel. After receiving his PhD from the University of Basel, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, USA. He then started his own laboratory at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London, UK, before joining Swiss TPH. His research focuses on the ecology and evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with a particular focus on antimicrobial resistance.

Vishwanath Venketaraman is a Professor of Immunology and Microbiology at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP), Western University of Health Sciences, California, USA. He earned his Ph.D. at the Tuberculosis Research Center, University of Madras (India) and specializes in tuberculosis, HIV, and host–pathogen interactions. His research focuses on immune responses and host-directed therapies for TB, especially in patients with HIV or type 2 diabetes.He has received several research grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and awards including the WesternU Provost’s Distinguished Scholar Award and the Distinguished Teacher Award. He is also active in mentoring students and international TB research collaborations.

Selvakumar Subbian is a leading infectious-disease researcher at Rutgers NJMS/PHRI whose work focuses on the host side of tuberculosis. how our immune and metabolic systems respond (or fail to respond) to infection and how we might intervene via host-directed strategies to improve TB outcomes.